Railroad-brake



STATES PATENT OFFICE.

"o. a. FULLER, OF LAMONIE, morneex, ASSIGXOR TO HIMSELF, axn we. M. FERRY, JR, or FERRYSBURG, MICHIGAN.

RAILROAD-BRAKE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 24,696, dated July 5, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, O. F. FULLER, of Lamonte, in the county of Ottawa and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Steam-Brakes for Railroad-Cars; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in whicl Figure l, is a vertical longitudinal section of a railroad car truck and locomotive with my improvements applied to it. Fi 2, is a plan view of the same, portions of the truck frame being removed.

Similar letters of reference in each of the figures indicate corresponding parts.

The nature of my invention consists in the relative arrangement for united operation in the manner hereinafter specified of the toggle or radius compensating levers, pulleys, sections of chain or cord and connecting rods, sliding bumpers or draw heads, steam cylinder and brake. This arrange ment is such that the sections of chain which unite the brakes of several cars with steam cylinder, and through which the power of the steam cylinder is transmitted to the brakes, pass over sheaves placed near the joints or points of meeting of the compensat ing levers and consequently are always kept taut, and in proper condition forinstantaneously working the brakes, as well when the draw heads are moved in by backing the train or from other cause, as when they are drawn out to their full extent by the for ward motion of the train, and therefore the train is placed completely under the command of the engineer at all times; and the necessity of carrying brakesmen is avoided and accidents prevented, as the train is so completely under the control of the engineer that he is able to stop the same in the sho1t est possible space of time. This arrangement of steam brake is unlike others of a similar character which have preceded it, inasmuch as the sheaves over which the sections or chains pass, are hung at the joints or points of meeting of the compensating levers, and thus insure a certain and immediate compensation for the slightest or greatest amount of slack in the chains, as the levers are arranged to allow the draw heads to move apart without straining the chains,

and likewise as the cars can be coupled together quickly in the ordinary way 2". 0. simply by inserting the coupling pin, after which, by simply hooking the chains together, the cars as well as the brakes will be in condition for the application of the steam.

To enable others, skilled in the art, to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, represents the steam cylinder by which the brakes are applied. It may be of any approved construction and arranged as shown, or otherwise conveniently located so as to be operated by the engineer through a rod B.

C, C, represent the brake blocks arranged in any approved manner and brought forcibly against the wheels of the cars by means of pivoted toggle levers D, D, which have reverse acting eccentric pins (1, a. The levers of the several trains being connected together, and with the piston rod of the steam cylinder, by means of connecting rods E. and sections of chain F, F, as shown, and brought into operation so as to bear upon the wheels by applying steam to the piston rod of the cylinder, and thrown out of operation, so as not to bear upon the wheels, by means of springs Z), 6.

H, H, represent the pulleys over which the chains F, are passed. The pulleys H, are attached to the compensating lever or toggle joints while the pulleys H, are attached to the sliding bumpers or draw heads I, I, and move with them.

J, J, are the compensating levers or radius bars, they are pivoted at c, to the fixed bearings e, c, of the frame, and at (Z, (Z, to the sliding bumpers or draw heads I, I, as shown.

g, g, are intermediate stops for the chains to bear against when the bumpers are in action.

By this arrangement of compensating levers much shorter sections of chain may be used, and it will be seen, from the drawings, that the sections of chain, when the draw heads are drawn out, cause the toggles to straighten and thus allow for the drawing out of the bumpers or draw heads. And when the draw heads are forced in, the parts of the toggle form an elbow and thereby take up the slack which would exist in the chains, from the meeting of the bumpers or draw heads close together, were not dra'iv heads I, and steam cylinder as they 13 the compensating arrangement provided.

Vith my invention, it will be seen that the sections of chain are kept taut, both in the forward moving and backing of the train and therefore they are always in con dition for instantly transmitting the power from the steam cylinder to the brakes. The perfect accomplishment of this result, it must be obvious, is a great desideratum in a steam brake.

I do not claim the toggle or radius coinpensating levers J, J pulleys H, sections of chain and rods E, E, sliding bumpers or are Well known devices; out

I do claim- The brake blocks C, pins 64, a, and levers D, D, constructed and operating together substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

The above specification of my improvement in steam car brakes, signed by me this seventeenth day of March 1857.

O. F. FULLER. lVitnesses JOHN HELM,

JOHN RICE. 

